engleski

A Study on People’s Awareness towards Unforeseen Flood Risk in Zagreb, Croatia - for a use of GIS and virtual flood experimental tools

The City of Zagreb has grown as the capital of the Republic of Croatia in the plane along the Sava River, which is a tributary of the Danube River. The Sava River flows through Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia, then joins the Danube into the Black Sea. In October 1964, there was a huge flood occurred due to the increased water level of the Sava River, and the central area of Zagreb city was extensively damaged. Croatian Waters (Hrvatska Vode), a governmental body for water related issues, constructed a drainage canal – the Sava-Odra Canal – was constructed to discharge excessive water out to the field in order to prevent the city from flood. This project has been succeeded in protecting the city area from severe flood, and in fact there has been no outstanding flood occurred in the city. It considers that the lack of actual flood experience may possibly have diminished people’s awareness and consciousness towards flood. This may have had people be away from adequate preparedness for flood emergency in the city. There have been some exhibitions on the historical floods in Zagreb city, for example at Zagreb City Museum, it seems the exhibition contents were basically the displays the related records such as photographs and periodicals. Although they are very good materials for visitors to recall and/or learn the events, it may not be strong enough for them to relate their today’s everyday life and the floods. How can people sustain their awareness to be well-prepared and what is needed for it? Thus, we seek what can enable people to be aware of the necessity to be prepared for such unforeseen flood risk.

flood risk; Zagreb; GIS

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